Subj : SA Radio League News Bulletin for Sunday 28 January 2001
To : SA Radio League
From : Richard Peer
Date : Sat Jan 27 2001 03:13 pm
SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE
SARL NEWS SUNDAY JANUARY 28 2001
This is Amateur Radio Station ZS6SRL transmitting Amateur Radio News, a
service by the South African Radio League, the National Society for Amateur
Radio in South Africa, for the interest of all Radio Amateurs, Short-wave
Listeners and Electronic Enthusiasts. For a complete list of broadcast
times and frequencies please send a SASE to Amateur Radio News, SARL, P O
Box 1721, Strubensvallei 1735.
This bulletin is also available on the SARL's web pages hosted by Intekom at
www.sarl.org.za, as well as the packet radio bulletin board system. You may
also request
[email protected] to e-mail it to you in either text or
MSWord 6.0 format.
SILENT KEY
Council regrets to announce the passing away of: Cobie van Rhyn, ZR6JCC of
the Coalfields Radio Club in Witbank / Middelburg. He passed away in the
age of 55 years on Friday, the 19th of January 2001. He was very active in
club activities. Cobie leaves behind his wife, son and two daughters. We
offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends.
PAUSE
Here are the headlines of today's news:
AMATEUR RADIO NOT AN ISSUE AT TELECOM POLICY FRAMEWORK COLLOQUIUM
SARL AGM 2001 TO BE HELD IN THE FAIREST CAPE
TELKOM INTECHNET 2001 TONIGHT ON THE AIR.
HAMNET NEWS: ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW ACTIVITIES
MAY 2001 RAE EXAMINATION INFORMATION
NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM OPEN DAY
PROPAGATION FORECAST
You are listening to ZS6SRL. The news follows in detail.
AMATEUR RADIO NOT AN ISSUE AT TELECOM POLICY FRAMEWORK COLLOQUIUM
Amateur Radio will at this stage not be on the agenda at the Department of
Communication Telecommunication Policy Framework colloquium to be held next
weekend. While undoubtedly frequency spectrum will be a subject, the
colloquium will hear proposals for a telecommunications framework policy
which government will use to change or re-write the Telecommunications act
of 1996. Once a framework has been agreed ICASA will become involved to
prepare regulations. It is at that stage that the SARL will have to become
involved to ensure that Amateur Radio is not jeopardised.
At the 2000 AGM a proposal was accepted to form a Strategic Public Relations
Committee which would proactively look at all initiative that could impact
on Amateur Radio. This committee has not started its work because clubs,
while all having supported the formation of the SPRC, have not nominated a
representative to service on the committee. The minimum requirement is to
have at least one representative from each province on the committee in
order to ensure that all activity is monitored and information gather acted
upon by the SARL.
This is an urgent appeal to clubs in each province of South Africa to get
together and a appoint a SPRC committee member. The task of committee
members will be to liaise with Provincial government and to attend regular
teleconferences where action plans are formulated and reports discussed.
Nominations for the SPRC should be mailed to
[email protected].
SARL AGM 2001 TO BE HELD IN THE FAIREST CAPE
The SARL Annual General meeting will be held in the Western Cape and hosted
by the five Radio Clubs in the province. Council accepted an invitation
from the 5 clubs. The AGM will be held on April 27 and 28. Full details
will be announced in the next few weeks.
TELKOM INTECHNET 2001 TONIGHT ON THE AIR.
The first SARL Intecnet for 2001 tonight features MFSK, one of the latest
developments in Amateur Radio. MFSK is often also referred to as super
RTTY. The mode consists of 16 tones, sent one at a time at 15,25 baud and
spaced 15,625 hertz apart. Each tone represents four binary data bits. The
transmission is only 316 hertz wide and can easily be accommodated on a HF
transceiver with a CW filter. Join our guest from New Zealand Murray
Greenman for an indepth discussion on this HF mode and learn how you can use
this mode with virtually no financial outlay.
Intecnet 2001 will be on the air TONIGHT AT 20:00 SAST. Listen on the VHF
repeaters in your are and participate in the discussion on this very
interesting topic.
HAMNET NEWS: NEW ACTIVITIES
Francois Botha, ZS6BUU, of HAMNET informed SARL NEWS that HAMNET news
bulletins are back on the air. There will be one official news bulletin on
the first Sunday of every month and will also be available on the SARL
website. The bulletin will be transmitted at 09H10 SAST on 7070, 10130 kHz
on 145,750 MHz in the Pretoria area. It will be repeated during the Gauteng
North get together at 18:00 on the Pretoria Hamnet frequency , 145,725 MHz
with a relay on 7070 kHz.
An informal get together takes place every Sunday from 17:20 on 10130 kHz so
that Hamnet members from around the country can share ideas and discuss
experiences they may have had.
On Sundays when no official bulletins are transmitted, the same informal
network applies at 09:10 on 7070 and relayed on 10130 kHz and 145.750 MHz.
The weather watch reporting system is to be reinstated on 7070 kHz so that
weather conditions country wide can be noted, especially during rainy
seasons and adverse weather conditions around the coastline. It will be
handled daily by Martin ZS5VO/6 at 07:00 as from 1 February.
MAY 2001 RAE EXAMINATION INFORMATION
The Chief Examiner for the SARL RAE, Rassie, ZS1YT, informed SARL NEWS that
the next Radio Amateur Examination will be conducted on 10 May 2001 at 19:00
SAST. Entries for this examination close on 10 April 2001. The entry fee
is R100-00 and late entries will be accepted till 17 April at a fee of
R200-00. Any entries received after 17 April wil be deferred to the
November examination.
Entry forms are available on the SARL website at www.sarl.org.za or by fax
from the NARC at 011 675-2393. The syllabus and examples of RAE questions
can be found on the SARL website. Clubs are requested to register their
examination centres with Rassie soonest at
[email protected]
The Alberton Amateur Radio Club's RAE registration for the course will be on
Tuesday 6 February 2001 19:30 at the Clubhouse in Gerrit Maritz street
Alberton - a route map is available and for more details contact Michiel
ZS6MDK 083 212 5711.
NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM OPEN DAY
The National War Museum in Johannesburg holds an open day on 10 February
2001. An amateur radio station will be on the air on all bands as well as
VHF and UHF. The station will operate under the call sign ZS6NOM and
invites all amateurs to make contact with them. The activities starts
approximately at 09:00 SAST.
PROPAGATION CONDITIONS
Ean Retief, ZS1PR reports as follows on propagation conditions:
Not with standing all expectations the solar flux just will not increase.
It is now quite clear that the peak of the present 11 year cycle has been
passed. The past few months the solar flux decreased more than what it
increased.
The only event lately was 'n bright M1-class solar flare which occurred just
after 08:00 SAST on Friday. The earth's magnetic field was still unsettled
yesterday with the maximum useable frequencies about 10 to 15 percent lower
than normal.
Not many surprises are expected during the coming week. It appears that for
most of the week the solar flux will remain at the level of 165. On the
positive side it appears that the earth's magnetic field will be quiet to
unsettled for the whole week. Tonight it should be exceptionally quiet and
will be a fine opportunity to operate on 80 and 160 metres especially if you
do not have high power available.
With the lower solar flux and quiet geomagnetic conditions, good propagation
will exist in the late evening. It is expected that in the evenings at
23:00 SAST good propagation on the 40 metre band to the far east will
prevail. Simultaneously the 20 metre band should be open to the North and
South Americas.
CLUB ACTIVITIES
The website of the Alberton Radio Amateur club is now fully updated and
operational. New features on the site are:
Photo Album
SMS Service
DX Telnet
Calendar
Please feel free to visit the site www.hometown.aol.com/zs6tdk. Your
comments and suggestions will be much appreciated.
SARL NEWS invites other clubs to inform us of your websites so that it can
published in the bulletin. Our overseas and local readers of the SARL
bulletins will then be able to visit the various club's websites. Remember
the SARL website where unbelievable interesting information can be obtained
is: www.sarl.org.za.
A 23cm experimental beacon is 24 hours on the air from the QTH of Ivo ZS6AXT
on 1296,150 MHz. The radiated power is approximately 220 W EIRP and the
antenna directed to Durban. Please contact him locally on 144,500 MHz and
for DX at 011-664-7883 or Email
[email protected].
SAATI's monthly meeting will be held on 29 January at 19:30 for 20:00 in the
Lyttelton library in Cantonments Rd. All are welcome and come and listen to
the interesting aspects of digital amateur radio communication. Tasty
refreshments will be served.
EVENTS AND DATES TO REMEMBER
Intechnet 2001 on the air tonight at 20:00 SAST. Listen on the VHF
repeaters in your area and come and participate in the discussions on MFSK
Nominations for Councillors 31 January;
Motions for AGM 31 January;
Tinus Lange awards 15 February;
SARL awards 20 February.
The SARL News Service invites Clubs and individuals to contribute
information regarding Amateur Radio to
[email protected] with a copy to
[email protected]. Please submit in Afrikaans and English wherever possible.
Also join us in the following activities:
The President's Net on Sundays 12:00 on 7082 kHz. Amateur Radio Mirror
International Sundays at 10:00 on 9750 and 21560 kHz which is repeated
Mondays at 20:00 on 3215 kHz. Relays on various 2M repeaters can also be
heard.
Correspondence for Amateur Radio Mirror International is via
[email protected]. Include your telephone number to allow the producers to
call you for a possible interview. Send written reports to PO Box 90438
Garsfontein 0042 and include a self-addressed envelope and sufficient
postage so that you may receive a QSL card.
These transmissions are sponsored by Sentech, the common carrier for
broadcasting signals in South Africa and Telkom who provides the
transmission lines. Various local repeater frequencies on 2 metres and 70
cm are also used in your area.
We thank all contributors, individuals, clubs and other organisations to
this bulletin and all stations who so reliably relay these bulletins. This
bulletin was compiled by Marten, ZS6ZY, and read by ZS.... in.......
You have been listening to ZS6SRL.
This bulletin now ends and Sarlnews wish you a pleasant week.
Goodbye to all.
/ex
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Internet feed from ZS6ZY moved by Richard de ZR6CK
Regards,
Richard.
--- Msged/Q 1.60
* Origin: QTHR KG44DG, Novell User Group, Pretoria, RSA (5:7106/22)
